City of Sunshine and Storms CAPE TOWN

Seeing red

2012-02-15T22:52:00.004+02:00

Red seems to be the main colour of February. We hiked up onto Table Mountain to see the Red Disas - and saw these Red Crassulas and red Sunshine Conebushes too. You can see Lion's Head in the distance - and the upper cable station of Table Mountain on the right.

Love is ...

2012-02-14T08:11:00.005+02:00

... remembering when it all started.

This window display in Parfums de France, Constantia Village Shopping Centre, transported me back to the seventies when I used to collect the "Love is ... " cartoons by Kim (Kim Casali from New Zealand) in the daily newspaper. Seems they are still going strong. Happy Valentines Day!

In the bush on the beach

2012-02-13T20:39:00.006+02:00

Olifantsbos guest cottage in the Cape Point section of the Table Mountain National Park is yours for the night if you can afford R2640 (self catering). Admittedly that is for six people, and you can fit more in too, for a smaller fee per head. But what a fabulous, isolated spot. A word of warning though - it does get rather wild and windy in the summer.

Kung-Fu Shakespeare

2012-02-12T22:05:00.005+02:00

This year's Shakespeare at the open air theatre at Maynardville is A Comedy of Errors. Always clever and creative, these productions are great fun. The stage is surrounded by trees, all lit up and mysterious, and the atmosphere is magical. This year the set looked like it was built out of giant children's blocks, and the whole play was done with a Kung-Fu theme. With bubbles.

Beyond the garden

2012-02-11T09:06:00.006+02:00

Crassula perfoliata var coccinea growing on a retaining wall in the Kirstenbosch Collections Nursery - where most of the gorgeous plants that you see in the garden start out. In the distance is Grahan Duncan's office. Graham is a world authority on bulbs with a super-magic touch for cultivating them.

Second hand

2012-02-09T07:40:00.002+02:00

Tommy's wonderful and exciting second hand bookshop in Long Street has been around for quite a long time. It was definitely there when I worked in the SA Museum in the eighties.

Mmm, what's for supper?

2012-02-07T18:49:00.007+02:00

Fish 'n chips? Yellowtail - caught this morning, obviously. (The one at the back with the yellow tail.) From our favourite fish shop - The Little Fisherman at the High Constantia shopping centre.

Heat and dust

2012-02-05T22:29:00.004+02:00

Heading for the forest - a very hot and dusty start to a lovely walk this morning in Cecilia Park on the slopes of Table Mountain.

The end of a perfect day

2012-02-04T16:58:00.002+02:00

Does one need an excuse to crack open a Christina van Loveren - other than that its just a perfect day in Cape Town?

Downtown

2012-02-03T11:46:00.003+02:00

Main Road, Fish Hoek. Not the most beautiful of Cape Town's suburbs, but it is vibrant, safe and real people live and work there. And the beach and surrounding mountains are pretty spectacular.

Too hot for a Scot

2012-02-01T22:03:00.004+02:00

Being black and close to the ground, Coco sometimes has to be carried at the end of a long walk in this hot weather. Baskloof Private Nature Reserve, Scarborough - near the Cape Point section of Table Mountain National Park.
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Kalk Bay alleys

2012-01-30T23:08:00.002+02:00

The fishing village of Kalk Bay has become very touristy in the last ten years, with cute little gift shops, first-rate bookshops, bakeries and eateries of all sorts from ice-cream parlours to fish and chips takeaways to the smartest of smart restaurants. You can wander round for hours browsing and stopping for an espresso or, in this hot summer weather, a beer. I wonder what's up this alley ...

A hundred years of history

2012-01-26T20:22:00.007+02:00

Trafalgar High School in Cape Town's District Six is a hundred years old this year. One of Cape Town's top schools, it was established in 1912 and has a proud tradition of perseverance through adversity during the upheavals of the forced removals of the Apartheid clearances. It has produced some of South Africa's famous personalities and politicians, and many of its teachers are legendary. Happy Hundredth Birthday Trafalgar.
My photo is of the old, long ignored "boys" door that has been preserved over the years. There is also a "girls" door on the other side.

Trek fishing

2012-01-24T09:33:00.005+02:00

What better way to start the day than an early morning walk on Fish Hoek beach watching the traditional trek fishermen launching their boat?
And talking of boats, the Queen Mary arrived in Cape Town this morning. Hope to get to see her before she leaves.

Cape Town's ghost town

2012-01-23T21:45:00.004+02:00

High up on the mountain, at the top of Red Hill pass from Simon's Town, one reaches the hauntingly sad ghost town of Brooklands. I can't find out very much about it, other than it was abandoned when the inhabitants were forcibly removed during Apartheid. Today, a rainy, misty day, was a good day to visit it. There is a very nice trail that starts here and goes to the Kleinplaas Dam. But SANParks should have an information board about the place as it is really astonishingly spooky.

Big business, TAKE A HIKE!

2012-01-22T21:15:00.006+02:00

About two thousand Capetonians gathered at Hout Bay today in a protest march from the start of Chapmans Peak Drive to the site of the proposed toll road office park that the provincial government, in a decidedly dodgy little deal, has given away to the big business company Entilini (basically Murray and Roberts) that "renovated" and administers the toll road. A memorandum expressing the misgivings of the public over the underhand little deal to give away a piece of the Table Mountain National Park AND make us, the taxpayers, pay for it, was handed over to Entilini.
More photos.

Steelworks on the terrace

2012-01-21T17:50:00.003+02:00

A Steelworks on the terrace of Harveys at Winchester Mansions in Sea Point this morning - complete with palm tree growing through the roof. Quintessentially Cape Town.

Heat

2012-01-18T09:55:00.004+02:00

Early this morning the sun was already blazing - another scorcher of a day. On my way back from a walk in Silvermine I came across this tortoise legging it across the hot tarred road - no doubt to find a shady spot on the other side.

Playing tricks

2012-01-17T16:46:00.006+02:00

Another scorcher of a day. And sizzling in the hot sun is the new sculpture on the Alma Mater plaza between the Kramer Law Building and the new Student Administration Building on the University of Cape Town's middle campus, where the annual Summer School is in full swing. The artist, Charles Diamond, says that "the dogwatch" is a nautical term for the hours between late afternoon and night, when fading light can play tricks on the eyes. "It's difficult for me to explain the piece, so when people ask me what it is, I usually just say, 'it's about seven and a half tonnes'."

Salty Dog

2012-01-16T18:10:00.002+02:00

Today was one of the hottest days I can remember! A good place to be was in an airconditioned restaurant. Try the Salty Dog in Simon's Town - on the edge of the harbour.

Finding gold

2012-01-15T23:14:00.002+02:00

The Golden Spiderhead (Serruria villosa) is a type of protea that occurs only on the Cape Peninsula. We hiked up Trappieskop which is near Kalk Bay today, and found several large bushes of them on the top. You can see False Bay in the distance.

Tropical island?

2012-01-13T16:00:00.004+02:00

Llandudno Beach has the feel of a deserted tropical paradise (especially in today's warm and rainy weather) although it is minutes from the city and harbours some of the swishest and most expensive properties in South Africa.

Wine for the southern tip of Africa

2012-01-12T21:08:00.005+02:00

Flashback to our short holiday in Cape Agulhas a week ago. We stopped at a fantastic wine shop in Agulhas and bought some Lands End Sauvignon Blanc to quaff at the southernmost tip of Africa - just past the lighthouse depicted on its label. Very good! Especially with smoked salmon from The Little Fisherman at High Constantia. No wonder I can't get back into real life ...

Table Bay

2012-01-11T13:11:00.003+02:00

Today is an absolute stinker of a hot day! We started early and hiked up Devil's Peak - to get this view over the city of Cape Town on the fringes of Table Bay; Robben Island in the middle. Welcome drifts of cool air from that mist coming in from the north made the return bearable.

The thin edge of the wedge?

2012-01-10T07:35:00.014+02:00

Chapmans Peak reaching out into the ocean encloses Hout Bay and forms part of the Natural World Heritage Site that is the Table Mountain National Park. Chapman's Peak Drive, which you can just see in the photo, is a toll road which is administered by Entilini, a rather shadowy company that has taken some liberties in the past with its concession. Yesterday Capetonians were outraged when news broke of a proposed R54 million office block to be built in the Table Mountain National Park to house a bunch of road-toll officials with large, large egos - an an eye on possible high rent tenants, who knows. And guess who finances most of it? Us, the tax-payers! It is absolutely outrageous! My first thoughts on reading the article by Melanie Gosling in the Cape Times was "Is it April Fool's Day?" The office block will impinge on the integrity of our national park and seriously undermine the integrity of SANParks.(SANParks, go and read your mission statement on your website to remind yourself what you are all about!) It will be the beginning of the end of the war against the attrition of our beleaguered natural areas and I really, really hope that it will never happen.
There will be a protest march on Sunday 22 January at 10 am, starting at both ends of Chapmans Peak Drive.

Down memory lane

2012-01-04T12:58:00.011+02:00

The old homestead at Cape Point, now called Buffelsfontein Visitor Centre, used to be a restaurant when I was a kid - a restaurant that served a pretty good blueberry tart. How well I remember these trees and the whole "feel" of it from those exciting holiday visits! Even further back the homestead belonged to a chap called John McKellar from 1855-1886 and it was during his ownership of the farms Buffelsfontein and Uiterstehoek that (the display states) Charles Dickens paid a visit and stayed at this very homestead. (Ooops, sorry, Charles Dickens never set foot in South Africa - it was Charles Darwin. Maybe I need specs!) George Smith bought the farm from McKellar in 1886 and it became known as "Smith's Farm". Apparently they made a livelihood from keeping stock, ostriches, producing and selling lime from the calcareous travetine outcrops along the coast, fishing and whaling. When the Smiths eventually had to sell the land, it was very nearly sold to a company that wanted to develop it as a holiday destination, but thanks to the efforts of Norman and George Smith who were anxious that their land should become a nature reserve, and some forward thinking Capetonians - including the architect Brian Mansergh, the Hare family, Cape Divisional Councillor C.W.T Duminy and the naturalist S.H. Skaife - the land was eventually - and after a long struggle - declared a nature reserve by the Cape Divisional Council in 1939. It was incorporated into the Cape Peninsula National Park in 1998; which then became the Table Mountain National Park in 2004.
But visit the Buffelsfontein Centre and its classy displays, and learn all about this amazing place for yourself.

On top of the world

2012-01-03T22:38:00.004+02:00

I have never seen such a long queue to get up Table Mountain in the cable car, but at the top it was full of happy people having fun and popping champagne. We took advantage of the sunset special where you can buy a half price ticket after half past five, and a ticket to eat at the Table Mountain Cafe.

Mini-haha

2011-12-23T22:48:00.005+02:00

One of the tourist adventure things to do around Cape Town is to go shark cage diving, although many Capetonions blame the spate of shark attacks on this activity as they lure the sharks in close to the coast by laying a scent trail or "chumming". On one of my frequent trips to the airport this week, I was amused by this clever ad for the feisty little mini.

Senio Rita

2011-12-22T11:11:00.002+02:00

I do not like December. It is too busy and deadlines too burdensome.

Here is a cool, calm scene in the midst of chaos.

Desolate

2011-12-14T17:23:00.005+02:00

Stormy weather today and an apt backdrop to the once bustling suburb of District 6 at the foot of Table Mountain, which is now a monument to the atrocities of the Nationalist government. Most of District 6 has been lying deserted since the brutally sad days of the seventies and eighties when an entire community was forcibly removed to clear the area for "whites only". But apparently there is going to be a lot of development here in the coming year as land claims are sorted out and things get going.

Seafood lunch

2011-12-13T07:21:00.003+02:00

Sunny Monday lunch at Bertha's in Simon's Town. Good solid seafood and local entertainment.

Table Mountain pillar box

2011-12-11T22:36:00.004+02:00

On the top of Table Mountain, just outside the shop at the top of the Cableway, is this red pillar box which must have been made during the reign of Edward VII of England as it has "ER VII" on it, and below that "Handyside, Derby & London". Any letters posted here will be franked with the name Table Mountain. A quick google of the name Handyside brought up the identical pillarbox standing in Oakwood, Derby! The firm produced an astonishing number of iron works. Just look on this website.

Wings and Wheels

2011-12-10T15:35:00.004+02:00

The Silver Falcons rip across the sky over Century City in their Pilatus PC-7 Mk II Astras for the annual spectacular Ysterplaat Air Show and Wings and Wheels Expo, now into its second day. The programme includes air displays, and helicopter fire-bombing displays, classic cars, off-road driving feats, etc. With Table Mountain as a backdrop, it looks pretty spectacular.

The one that didn't make it

2011-12-09T10:17:00.005+02:00

Today's walk on Fish Hoek Beach revealed a dead Cape Fur Seal pup, washed up and looking for all the world like it was relaxing on the beach. These are our most common seals, and they breed on islands along the coast. The pups are at a crucial stage in their lives as it round about now that they have to learn to fend for themselves. The high seas that have occurred lately must have proved too much for this poor pup.

Don't miss the bus

2011-12-08T07:03:00.002+02:00

Yesterday was a rather wet and chilly day and not the best choice for our trip in the open-top Cape Town City Sightseeing Bus, but it was still a fantastic outing. Here we are passing the picturesque Hout Bay Harbour. The buses do circular trips, one around the city, and one that goes from Cape Town city, via Kirstenbosch, Hout Bay and Camps Bay and back to the city. One can hop on or hop off anywhere along the route. They have some good deals and suggestions for things to do along the way too. An ideal way to kick off a visit to Cape Town.

Windows into history

2011-12-06T22:25:00.004+02:00

A window into the Noor el Hamedia Mosque, on the corner of Dorp and Long Streets in Cape Town. The mosque was built in the 1880s in memory of Abu Bakr Effendi, a Turkish Islamic scholar, who was one of the first people who wrote down Afrikaans, phonetically in Arabic script; thus providing a unique chance to work out how it must have sounded in mid-nineteenth century Cape Town.

Optimism

2011-12-05T16:15:00.002+02:00

This is Kleinplaas Dam which is up in the mountains behind Simon's Town - a popular place to hike to. The people who built the dam in the 1960s must have been very hopeful and optimistic because the water has not even reached the base of the marker that was put in there to record water level goodness knows how many years ago.

Sing choirs of angels

2011-12-03T23:18:00.003+02:00

More Christmas spirit with the annual St Cyprian's preparatory school's lovely "Celebration of Christmas in song" which was a performance of "Holy Boy: A Christmas Oratorio" by David Palmer. So impressive. Well done again to their talented music teacher, Anthea von Wieringen.

Sailing

2011-12-02T09:56:00.006+02:00

This Friday's beachcomb revealed lots of By-the-wind Sailors (Velella velella) cast up on Fish Hoek Beach. Each one is actually a colony of polyps that eat plankton and other microscopic life of the open ocean. They are related to jellyfish and bluebottles; and have stinging cells to catch their prey, but unlike bluebottles, they are harmless to humans. In this photo you can see the transparent sail that propels the little floating colony across the ocean. Absolutely amazing!

Taking the plunge

2011-12-01T22:19:00.006+02:00

A chilly plunge into the ocean at Seaforth. Far too cold for me!
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Sardine Run

2011-11-30T13:11:00.008+02:00

An unseasonal Sardine Run is on at the moment in the sea around Cape Town. I was on Hout Bay beach this morning and the water was alive with these little fish no more than 25 cm long. They seem completely disorientated, some of them swim up onto the beach and lie there flipping before some tern swoops down and flies off with them.
The photo on the left shows one that has just stranded itself and lies there flapping and gasping. They are sardines (Sardinopsis sugax) and theories abound as to why they do this - but it is still rather mysterious.
There were hundreds and thousands of seagulls, terns and cormorants - as well as dolphins and seals (and no doubt, sharks), all having a feeding frenzy. The local humans also cashed in.

Rules are not there to be obeyed

2011-11-29T23:33:00.001+02:00

Capetonians are not renowned for their compliant behaviour!

Sea Swallow

2011-11-26T11:07:00.006+02:00

Another weird creature of the open ocean cast up on Fish Hoek Beach: a Sea Swallow (Glaucus atlanticus) - a gastropod mollusc that has lost its shell. It is about 20 cm long, and according to George Branch's book Two Oceans, it floats upside down on the surface of the open ocean, gulping air to keep it afloat and feeding on Bluebottles and their relatives. It can utilize the stinging cells of their prey for their own defence. So this is how it would look to us looking down on it from the air.
I wonder what these strong winds we are experiencing in Cape Town will blow in next?

Pot of silver?

2011-11-23T22:06:00.003+02:00

Rainbow over Silvermine - a showery, blustery day today. Silvermine is a section of the Table Mountain National Park where once, many many years ago, the early Dutch settlers prospected for silver in vain. Now its a glorious nature area in the middle of Cape Town.

Eye candy

2011-11-22T22:36:00.006+02:00

Christmas shopping along Simon's Town Main Road today - and this shop caught my eye. It is The Meeting Place where you can enjoy delicious teas and lunch in a wonderfully relaxing and pretty shop while admiring the lovely Christmas gift displays like these well dressed reindeer (in Arran and Fair Isle knits) - and lots lots more. I feel positively Christmassy now!

Arty afternoon

2011-11-21T15:49:00.005+02:00

The National Gallery has a most interesting exhibition on at the moment entitled Listening to Distant Thunder: The art of Peter Clarke curated by Philippa Hobbes and Elizabeth Rankin. There is an accompanying book for sale too, but annoying, the shop was closed today as it is every Monday. Clarke is one of Cape Town's most talented artists, and he lives in a terraced house in Ocean View where he and his family were evicted from Simon's Town during the infamous Group Area Act forced removals of the National Government in the 1970s.
Also, annoyingly, one is not allowed to take photos inside, but here is a photo of the poster advertising the interesting and thorough exhibition outside the National Gallery.

Southeaster

2011-11-18T11:31:00.006+02:00

Today is blowing a gale in Cape Town, but that didn't stop us from taking the dogs for a windy walk on Fish Hoek Beach. The Southeaster had cast all manner of life up onto the beach like this Bluebottle (Physalia physalis) and Violet Snail (Janthina janthina): prey and predator.Darwin was fascinated by barnacles and this in one of the barnacles he studied - the Buoy Barnacle (Dosima fascicularis) which has washed up on Fish Hoek Beach in great numbers.
It looks like a large version of the Goose Barnacle but has its own plastic-looking float. Apparently these chaps have benefitted from all the human-generated flotsam and jetsam in the ocean as their juveniles use it to settle on before they make their own floats.
Another Violet Snail or Bubble Raft Shell - a gastropod that floats on the open ocean using mucous-coated bubbles that it secretes from its foot. It eats bluebottles.
A deserted and windswept Fish Hoek - with the car park rapidly filling up with sand. Tomorrow I hear the weather will be utterly perfect.

Oudekraal

2011-11-16T22:23:00.005+02:00

Still beside the seaside, this is Oudekraal which is along Victoria Road between Camps Bay and Llandudno. A popular spot with divers and a great place for a picnic or a braai. You can just make out the white buildings of the Twelve Apostles Hotel in the centre of the photo too. Lion's Head is on the left. The sea is icy cold here - especially in summer when the Southeaster wind, which was pumping today - blows the surface water northwards, and cold water wells up from under the sea causing what is known as upwelling. On the other side of the peninsula, the sea is a totally different temperature.

Beside the seaside ...

2011-11-14T18:21:00.003+02:00

A very typical old South African seaside holiday house on the beachfront at Kommetjie, a seaside village on the outskirts of Cape Town. A bit ramshackle, a big enclosed veranda and white walls. This one has a signpost with "No bad guys allowed in this house" handwritten on the gatepost. I wonder what it refers to - humans or seagulls?

Our Mountain

2011-11-12T22:31:00.006+02:00

After all the hype and Pop Idol-like fever, Table Mountain eventually made it into the "provisional new 7 wonders of nature" that some company dreamed up. I dont really agree with all this commercial branding hoo-hah, but I do agree that it is a wonder of nature! Here is a view looking at it from above Simon's Town - the back of the traditional view. You can see Devil's Peak on the right, and the table part of it just to the left. What makes it so special is not just its shape and size, but the fact that it harbours an amazing diversity of plants - more indigenous species than the whole of the British Isles. Plus some interesting insects and animals like the Velvet Worm - Peripatus.

Honouring the fallen

2011-11-11T19:09:00.003+02:00

Not a poppy but a single arum lily to honour this poor soul in the Parish Road Cemetery in Constantia on Remembrance Day, 11/11/11. There are quite a few Second Anglo-Boer War graves in this small cemetery - all British soldiers who died here during this war that took place from 1899-1902. Sadly, many of them died waiting to go home as the dates include 1903 and 1906.

An Italian in Africa

2011-11-10T20:57:00.003+02:00

At the top of Rubbi Road in the seaside village/suburb of Kommetjie, with gorgeous views over Long Beach, is this very Italianate Catholic Church of St Josephs. It was built in memory of Joseph Rubbi, who was born in the village of Marostica, near Padua in Italy, in 1873, and who came to South Africa where he became a successful builder and prominent citizen of Cape Town. There is quite a lot about the chapel and the man on this Cape Town Family History Society webpage.

Scene in Long Street

2011-11-08T18:08:00.004+02:00

An elephant trying to cross the road in Cape Town's trendy Long Street. I wonder if he is also offered the odd joint?

Time check

2011-11-07T18:40:00.008+02:00

The Time Ball Tower in Cape Town's harbour harks back to 1894 and has was restored and officially recommissioned in November 1997. It is next to the Harbour Engineer's former residence, Dock House. The Time Ball, a large painted ball that drops at a predetermined time, enabled the ship's master to test the accuracy of his chronometer whilst docked in Cape Town. (Interesting for all who read and enjoyed Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel.)

Standing stones

2011-11-06T22:15:00.002+02:00

High up on the Kalk Bay section of Table Mountain are these strange standing stones. They are the eroded remains of what were once cracks in the mountain but they really look like they were sculpted.

Gone gardening

2011-11-05T13:40:00.005+02:00

Cool summery weather - ideal for gardening. Our closest garden centre is Ferndale Nursery in Brommersvlei Road, Constantia - a really good garden centre which has been a family business here for years and years and years. Surprisingly, they dont have a webpage but here is a reference to it on The Gardening Blog. Their colourful displays are most interesting, but altogether too tempting. (The lady in white is part of the display - as is Michaelangelo's David.) Needless to say I bought a whole lot of things, including some absolutely beautiful roses. I try very hard to be an indigenous gardener until I am confronted with roses! So no time to blog and surf, have to hit the garden ...

Parlez-vous?

2011-11-04T16:10:00.004+02:00

The Alliance Francais in Long Street is quite an institution in Cape Town, and you don't have to be French to pop in for lunch, or even better, early supper. On Fridays they have a food market which is open from 10 am till about 3 or 4 pm. The Brie there is as smelly and delicious as any you can buy in Paris.

A city in a city

2011-11-03T16:49:00.003+02:00

Not sure what you find beyond these gates as I have never been into the Century City development, other than to entertain my boys when they were boisterous kids wanting to go on the cobra at Ratanga Jucntion, but it sounds amazing.

Picnic at Allée Bleue

2011-11-01T11:11:00.007+02:00

Driving up to the picnic lawns of the Franschhoek wine estate, Allée Bleue, you are aware of layers of history, layers of vines, and layers of fences. White iceberg roses ramble over the fence that lines the driveway, each row of vines has its own fence to climb along, and the white wall of the original homestead is the final fence - and behind that whitewashed wall is your destination - a fabulous picnic place. And it takes just under an hour to get there from Cape Town.
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Down on the farm

2011-10-29T23:33:00.005+02:00

With hens spilling out onto the road side - Noordhoek Farm Village shopping centre looks most enticing.

Red, orange, yellow, green ...

2011-10-27T12:08:00.004+02:00

Brightening my day: Bo Kaap Houses in Cape Town. Lions Head in the background. Thrilled to hear that Cape Town is World Design Capital 2014. According to the website, "this prestigious status is designated biennially by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) to cities that are dedicated to using design for social, cultural and economic development."

Flying past

2011-10-26T16:02:00.005+02:00

Flying past on the Nelson Mandela Boulevard this afternoon I could clearly pick out the subject of my post yesterday - the Moravian Chapel in District Six. It is the white building right in the centre of the photo. You can see all the open space that was left vacant, as Cape Town's builders and architects refused to build on sites that has once been part of the vibrant community that was District Six, and even today, I am not sure what will become of it. There are probably many land claims and much land restitution to be concluded still.

Standing proud

2011-10-25T16:52:00.005+02:00

The Moravian Chapel in District Six is one of the few buildings that escaped demolition by the Nationalist Apartheid Government after District Six was literally razed to the ground following the forced removal of its residents once it was declared a white area in 1966. It is now part of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. In 1999 it housed the District Six Museum, which has now moved to Buitenkant Street. For more on the history of District Six, visit the site of the District Six Museum.

Shoe shine

2011-10-24T07:24:00.005+02:00

Apologies for the hiatus - Internet troubles. Seems to be fixed. A strange little program was sharing my files with someone and blocking my bandwith.
Anyway, on Friday evening we went shopping for hiking gear at Cape Union Mart on the Waterfront. Very pretty shop with nice stuff and a fantastic window of shoes.

Welcome to Cape Town

2011-10-18T21:14:00.002+02:00

Stormy skies over Table Mountain today seen from the N1.

Kalk Bay story

2011-10-17T21:13:00.002+02:00

Along Main Road from Kalk Bay to Muizenberg there are major roadworks that have been going on for several years now and causing disruption and unhappiness. But some progress has been made and the first section from Muizenberg to St James is complete and looks very nice. Just the other day these colourful posters of scenes - old and new - of Kalk Bay appeared. Now you almost enjoy the traffic jam because they are so interesting.

Sky dam

2011-10-16T21:50:00.003+02:00

This is De Villiers Dam which was built high up on Table Mountain to provide water to the burgeoning suburbs below. Today there is an easy walk up to it from Constantia Nek.

Bohemian chic

2011-10-14T08:07:00.005+02:00

Sea Point has transformed from frowsy flat-land to sophisticated city living in the last twenty years. This is my sister's elegant flat with views over the Atlantic Ocean and Lion's Head and Table Mountain.

Lounging around Wynberg

2011-10-12T06:55:00.004+02:00

With summer suddenly upon us - well almost - one's fancies turn lightly to sweet thoughts of lounging around pools and sipping orange juice with nothing else to do but relax and soak up the sun. If you are the well heeled sort, you could quickly be divested of thousands of rand in this gorgeous little collection of outlets selling garden furniture, parasols, kitchenware and other delightful non-essentials, Chelsea Garden and Home. Under the roof of an old Wynberg house, Kleine Oude, (said to have been built in 1798) it is well worth a visit. According to Helen Robinson in her book Wynberg: A special place, this was also the site of the first general store that was built near a ford at the foot of Carr Hill shortly after the Oude Wijnberg farm was subdivided.

Up to the hilt

2011-10-11T15:29:00.006+02:00

Recently opened on the corner of Buitengracht and Wale Streets, is Cape Town's Hilton Hotel. I find these hotels rather lacking in character, but it is nice to see one in our little visdorpie (SA speak for Cape Town - meaning "fishing village"). Once you are inside you could be anywhere in the world, but outside this one has a good central position - near the Cape Quarter area with its great local vibe.

Bird bath

2011-10-09T21:51:00.007+02:00

Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden has just been nominated as one of the top 7 picnic destinations in the world by National Geographic. Wow. But then, I can see why. It is a truly spectacular, yet comfortable and friendly place to come to, with a host of things to do apart from look at flowers. It has an interesting history too. This is Colonel Bird's Bath, a spring of crystal clear water that bubbles up into this bird-shaped pond that was built in 1811 (200 years ago!) by one of the first owners of one of the farms that eventually became Kirstenbosch in 1913. The pool is about one and a half metres from end to end, situated in the magical shady Dell. On a hot day like today - the first really warm summer day we have had this season - it is a lovely place to come and cool down, although swimming is not allowed.

No con man

2011-10-08T14:41:00.004+02:00

Last night I went to the launch of Conn Iggulden's new book Conqueror: Warrior, Scholar Brother at Kalk Bay Books. Always very interesting and a relaxed and informal venue. The audience (and a rather ponderous Jen Crocker acting as the interviewer) were quite serious - and Conn Iggulden was quite flippant and dying to make some good jokes - which made for a fun talk. Not sure if they are my type of book though - lots of killing and conquering and swashbuckling. The author likes to trawl through history for little known events that could make fantastic stories - like Julius Caesar being captured by pirates as a young lad, and Cleopatra being rolled out in a rug in front of Caesar. On second thoughts, maybe I will read some of his books.

Hats off to Flanders and Swann

2011-10-05T16:31:00.003+02:00

Another one of Cape Town's gems is the Theatre on the Bay in Camps Bay with its elaborate swags that lend a feeling of theatrical excitement before the real curtain goes up. The Twelve Apostles of Table Mountain add a dramatic backdrop. We went there to see the show Hats Off - a performance of Flanders and Swann skits and songs. It was superb entertainment - well worth attending.

A Painted Lady

2011-10-04T11:33:00.004+02:00

This is a Painted Lady (Gladiolus carneus), a common lady indeed, growing from the Cederberg all the way round the south-western Cape to Plettenberg Bay. Snapped on a misty morning on Table Mountain, near the entrance to Cecilia Forest off Rhodes Drive, this one was displaying its frilly stigma, with protruding anthers dangling provocatively hoping to attract the attention of a passing bee or fly pollinator. Those pretty spade markings on the petals too are "nectar-guides" to draw a pollinator's attention to the nectar hidden within the flower.
The bulbous genus Gladiolus occurs over most of sub-Saharan Africa and in the Mediterranean parts of Europe and the Middle East. There are about 265 species altogether, and most of the species are crammed into the south-western Cape. It is from South Africa that all of the hybrid gladioli that you buy in florists today originate.

Summer

2011-10-02T18:01:00.003+02:00

A sunny afternoon, a local cider and some strawberries, the Southeaster blowing cool and gentle - summer must be on the way.

Birds and beez

2011-09-29T19:04:00.006+02:00

This is Chez Ntemba one of the clubs just off Long Street, the centre of Cape Town's vibrant night life. Long Street has had some bad press lately because of flagrant and persistent drug dealing - something that our police seem unable to stop. This club must have drawn inspiration from Helen Martins of the Owl House fame as well as from Beezy Bailey.

Kramat

2011-09-28T12:50:00.008+02:00

In 1716 Sheikh Noorul Mubeen was banished from Indonesia by the colonial Dutch government for being a trouble maker and sent to the Cape where he was imprisoned on Robben Island. He escaped and hid on Table Mountain near the present site of Oudekraal, which is on the coastal road between Camps Bay and Llandudno. When he died, he was buried here, and his burial place became a shrine or kramat for followers of the Islam faith. Eventually this building was built over the grave. Shaded by old gum trees, anyone can visit the kramat, which is just off Victoria Road and quite close to the smart Twelve Apostles Hotel but be aware that it is a holy place of quiet contemplation. There are other graves here too - one belonging to his wife or one of his followers, and the other to Sheikh Sayed Jaffer. I and many other Capetonians are extremely grateful for the presence of these graves because they have prevented greedy property developers from building inappropriate luxury houses and hotels here. In front of the kramat building, enclosed by this rustic wooden fence, a spring of sweet, clear water wells up, and Muslims come from far and wide to collect its water. Springs are particularly significant in the Muslim faith as their holiest place is the Well of Zamzam in Mecca, Saudi Arabia where Abraham's son Ishmael, who was thirsty and crying for water, struck the soil and miraculously, water gushed out. Millions of pilgrims visit this well each year while performing the Hajj in order to drink its water.
See ABC Wednesday for more interpretations of the letter K.

Getting to the Point

2011-09-27T21:39:00.006+02:00

Looking down over Smitswinkel Bay which gets its name, "the blacksmiths shop" from some rocks that resemble an anvil and bellows and not from some hermit blacksmith that set up shop in this remote spot. The few beach cottages down there are highly desirable and seldom come onto the market. The beach is right on the edge of the Cape Point section of the Table Mountain National Park. Cape Point can be seen in the far distance too.

Braai for South Africa

2011-09-26T22:37:00.003+02:00

Saturday was Heritage Day and for a few years now, it has also been known as National Braai Day. A braai is a unique South African word that means "cook over fire" - from Afrikaans. Barbecue is about the closest one can get to its meaning. We spent the weekend at Cape Agulhas and managed to braai some boerewors in the wind on the southern tip of Africa.

Breakfast at Dave's

2011-09-25T18:56:00.003+02:00

Breakfast en route to Cape Agulhas at Dave's Country Kitchen at the Red Windmill - a lovely old farmhouse just on the other side of Napier. Great food and a happy, child and pet-friendly ambience. About an hour and a half outside Cape Town. This is going to be a regular stop-over from now on ...

Heritage Day

2011-09-23T22:14:00.001+02:00

Tomorrow is Heritage Day and I would like to celebrate our botanical heritage with a hike in the lowland fynbos around Cape Town where you find a myriad (literally thousands) of species of rare and wonderful plants. Take this one for example: a young Medusa's Head Euphorbia (Euphorbia caput-medusae). Some specimens of this plant found their way to the Amsterdam Botanic Gardens in 1700, and they are still fairly plentiful in the sandy soils of the Cape lowlands fynbos. It almost looks like an alien from Hollywood!

The Sweetest Thing

2011-09-22T14:35:00.005+02:00

The Runciman Building in Simon's Town was built in 1785, but was given its present "facelift" in 1899. Don't ride past it because inside, behind the yellow brollies, lies the best patisserie in the whole of the Cape Peninsula - The Sweetest Thing.
I tried the Pear and Frangipani tart and was hooked. Now I can't wait to go back on the weekend to try a Botstock as they only make those then.

Spiderhead

2011-09-21T17:40:00.006+02:00

Our hike this morning took us from Simonstown up onto the mountain to Swartkops Peak and along the spine of Table Mountain and down to Smitswinkel Bay - a most spectacular five and a half hours. On the way we passed the famous Swartkops Spiderhead population - the only one left of these beautiful spiderheads - Serruria hirsuta. They are listed as Critically Endangered on the internationally endorsed IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria in the Red List of South African plants. The genus Serruria belongs to the protea family and was named in honour of J. Serrurier who was Professor of Botany at the University of Utrecht in the early eighteenth century. The most famous one is the Blushing Bride, Serruria florida from Franschhoek.

One flew over ...

2011-09-19T16:40:00.005+02:00

On the banks of the Liesbeek River in the Two Rivers Urban Park that has recently been created in Observatory, you look across to the sprawling buildings of Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital. It was named after Cornelius Valk who established a farm on the land in 1720. It then became a "lunatic asylum" in 1891 and today it the main teaching hospital for the University of Cape Town's Department of Psychiatry and is also a specialised training centre for psychiatric nursing.
Famous patients include the poet Ingrid Jonker (our very own Sylvia Plath) who was admitted with depression in the 1960s and Tshepo, the lead character in K. Sello Duiker's novel The Quiet Violence of Dreams.
These are not cuckoos, but Hartlaubs Gulls.

Zapped

2011-09-15T17:57:00.007+02:00

The South African Jewish Museum in the Company's Garden, Cape Town is one of our finest museums. We went there to view the temporary exhibition entitled "Zapiro: Jiving with Madiba. Jonathan Shapiro's Mandela" and what a pleasure. With the anniversary of Steve Biko's death in detention on 12 September 1977 three days ago, and in the aftermath of an excellent lecture by Sir Sydney Kentridge (one of the lawyers who represented the Biko family at the subsequent inquest) it was a wonderful way to remember those dark days, yet feel uplifted that there were, and still are, dissenting voices of the calibre of Zapiro in South Africa. This is a great exhibition and everyone should go and see it. In this photo is the original Madiba puppet used for ZA News.

Irma Stern Museum

2011-09-14T16:16:00.007+02:00

The Irma Stern Museum in Rosebank - close to the University of Cape Town - is one of Cape Town's hidden gems. The museum and art gallery is actually the house where Irma Stern, one of South Africa's great artists, lived and worked. Curated by the University of Cape Town and the Trustees of the Irma Stern Estate, it contains a wealth of information and works of the famous artist, and also has regular temporary exhibitions which are always most interesting. It also has an unexpected, lovely garden to sit and relax and contemplate art in.
This is my interesting "i" for ABC Wednesday.

Heartbreaking

2011-09-13T14:50:00.009+02:00

I drive past this rather dilapidated graveyard in Parish Road, Constantia often, and always notice the decapitated angel. Today, a rather cold, wet and miserable day, I got out and wandered through the cemetery and took at look at the angel on which is inscribed:
SCHUDDINH
IN LOVING MEMORY OF OUR DARLING BABIES
BERNARD 1332-1937 DAPHNE 1935-1936
SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME
So very heartbreaking!
There are also some military graves that have been recently tidied up by the South African War Graves Commission - apparently they are graves of British soldiers that died in the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 (although some are dated 1903). But on the whole it is in pretty sad condition. In South Africa theft of metal is a great problem and many of the graves that contained railings no longer do. All rather pathetic.
I can't find out much about the graveyard either. It has graves with names of some prominent old Cape family names like Spilhaus and Rathfelder, but it doesn't seem to be formally attached to Christ Church Anglican church, which is close by. Maybe it is, who knows. The earliest grave seens to be 1878.

Astronomical

2011-09-12T15:46:00.006+02:00

This delightful house is the home of the Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory in Observatory, on the banks of the Liesbeek River. Several rare and endangered species grow wild in front of the house which is on a remnant of "Peninsula Shale Renosterveld" vegetation. The Blue Peacock Moraea (Moraea aristata) that does well in cultivation but is almost extinct in the wild and only occurs naturally here.

Number 1 butterfly

2011-09-11T14:26:00.004+02:00

This morning we walked in the Koeberg Nature Reserve just west of Cape Town. One of the wondrous things we saw was this little Silver Arrowhead butterfly (Phasis thero) sitting in a wild rosemary bush or Kapokkie as it is locally known (Eriocephalus racemosus).
Characteristic of this butterfly is the hooked silver bar that looks like an arrowhead (or the number 1) and two short tails on the hind wings.

If you are into butterflies, a really lovely blog is The Amateur Naturalist, who also observed the Silver Arrowhead in the West Coast National Park which is a bit further up the West Coast.

Grey seas and skies

2011-09-10T21:50:00.002+02:00

Its back to winter again for the meantime with a grey and choppy sea. Business as usual for the fishing boats at Kalk Bay harbour. Picutresque they may be, but the life of a fisherman is hard as this interesting blog by Jeremy Jowell depicts.

An African send-off

2011-09-09T14:58:00.005+02:00

Today was the opening of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. I hope they have as much fun as we did last year with the Soccer World Cup. This is Prof. Tait, Warden of Smuts Residence at the University of Cape Town, hauling out the Smut's vuvuzela to lend some support to our team! Here is a video clip of our team's send-off in Johannesburg earlier this week. Go Bokke!

Contemplating Kilimanjaro

2011-09-08T23:03:00.002+02:00

Shopping can be tiring and Constantia Village Shops have convenient seats.

Happy Birthday

2011-09-07T14:51:00.004+02:00

A hot summer's day today in Cape Town - and someone had the bright idea to go to Kirstenbosch to have a birthday party in the cool, shady garden. Happy Birthday! In the background is the building housing the temporary display, Untamed, that I have visited once before.
For more aitches (!) go to ABC Wednesday.

Window shopping

2011-09-06T21:59:00.005+02:00

The shops at the Cape Quarter Lifestyle Village shopping centre in Green Point (near the new soccer stadium) are all rather upmarket. I think the word "lifestyle" is the giveaway. Its quite fun to walk around though.

Spotty dog

2011-09-05T18:55:00.002+02:00

This is the famous Spotty Dog in Main Road, Retreat. The original Spotty Dog was a roadhouse, built in 1938, that sold hot dogs inside the dog's body. A kennel was added, but it all disappeared and eventually a truck destroyed Spotty. By public demand, a new Spotty Dog was consructed and is still there, even though his puppy had to be moved becuase of vandalism.

Whale watching

2011-09-04T15:45:00.006+02:00

Walking up the mountain above Kalk Bay this hazy morning we passed the Kalk Bay Shark Spotter who said he had not seen any sharks but pointed out plenty of Southern Right Whales.
Shark Spotters are positioned at strategic points along the Cape Peninsula, primarily along the False Bay coastline. If a shark is seen, they signal the beach spotter who sounds a siren and raises a white flag with a black shark which alerts surfers and swimmers to the presence of a shark.

Bugged

2011-09-03T21:28:00.004+02:00

Our local shopping centre was having a good old-fashioned cake sale to raise funds for Meadowridge Common, a stretch of open space that has some rare and interesting plants. Fancy a worm cup-cake?

Bring on spring

2011-09-02T22:43:00.003+02:00

A bleak, stormy day with traffic jams, endless roadworks and bad bad driving all around. Not feeling very spring-like this 2 September.

Perspectives

2011-09-01T14:03:00.005+02:00

Perspective: "The art and the science of so delineating objects that they shall seem to grow smaller as they recede from the eye" ...
I think I would have chosen this curly roof on ultra cool Bree Street to practice perspective drawings. Click on to this site which also gives a perspective (in a different sense of the word) on Bree Street.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Grow an indigenous garden

2011-08-31T20:26:00.008+02:00

The Garden Centre in Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, on the slopes of Table Mountain, sells only indigenous, South African plants. Luckily there are hundreds to choose from.
For more gees, see ABC Wednesday.